He's 2!!!!

Sitting here at a coffee shop on my 'Mama's Night Out' I found myself thinking about all the things that I would like to get caught up on...and, as I am sure you well know, sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming to look at those sort of lists...so I decided to start with one at a time and not to worry too much about the rest until I get to them.

Dave and I recently began giving each other a night out. I have been using them in the past several weeks to reconnect with friends apart from a toddler in tow. It has been fun and very special. I hadn't realized how much I need or miss that time until I spent a few nights with close friends. It has been good to be reminded that there is more to me than being a 'Mom' and those parts also need to be nurtured.

Jonatan is now 2 years old!!! It is so very hard to believe that we have been home for over 4 months now. It feels as though we have known him all his life. In just the past month and a half since our last post, he has progressed from single syllable words to 3 or more...in fact, just today he said 'potato' and 'aguacate' with amazing clarity! He has also begun to add verbs to his short phrases...we have now welcomed in the days of 'Mama help', 'Nino run', and 'Nino hungry'...note the spanglish.

As for physical development and as of the end of August, he had grown another inch and was a grand total of 5 pounds heavier since our visit to the US Embassy physician in Bogota! He is now able to jump in place and has been attempting to balance on one foot. This is so completely crazy as we can remember back to the days not so long ago when we were running along side him watching out for those inevitable trips and falls that toddlers frequently have. He is no longer in need of this and has even mastered the art of walking up and down our short, but steep, front lawn, and even recently began climbing the local playground climbing walls without much assistance.

And, for the more intimate moments...lets see...Jonatan loves to read his "libro de Jesus"; in fact, we do not get through our bedtime routine some nights without being told numerous times "libro Jesus, Papa/Mama". He is also still very sensitive to others, ever aware of the pain and sorrow of those around him. These moments almost always evoke some tears on his part, which are also occasionally coupled with a curled lip and a more recent disclaimer "nino/nina sad".

And for some more humorous moments: We, initially upon our return home from Colombia, had found that I, Sheila, while out with Jonatan in public would receive a lot of off the cuff coments about what culture Jonatan was from or questions about what culture his father was from...most of the time these were rather harmless and folks trying to find a way to express how cute or handsome he was. Well, these stopped for a while, and then about 2 weeks ago while at the grocery store with me, Jonatan was yawning and apparently tired...so the clerk asked him if he was going to go home and take a nap with his grandma!!!!! What!!!! Now, in defense of the clerk, this was a morning after one of my 12 hour nights, but come on I don't think I looked that old! Oh my! And then, today, I was in the same grocery store and as we were exiting, an older gentleman glanced down at Jonatan in his car (below the cart) and then up at me and asked if we were brothers!!!! Ok, now, my hair is actually longer than it was when I went to Colombia because I haven't taken the time to get it cut...and, I had a form fitting shirt on along with the same in jeans...as well as a purse! Hmmm, after thinking about all the responses I could give, I simply said, "No, he's my son." to which the gentleman replied, "Well, I thought you were his brother." Oh my, again. I called Dave right after this, as I had done with the other experiences...he most certainly laughed to the point of tears on the grandma story and certainly had a good laugh today with the brother story.

Here is a video-picture collage that we had worked on and have been having a hard time uploading...finally tonight I figured it out...well, not sure how it worked, but cracked whatever code I needed to get it to work...hopefully I can repeat whatever I did tonight for future uploads. These are a collection of some photos over the last month. Enjoy.



Several friends and fellow bloggers have emailed and asked about Dave's mom, so I thought I would briefly share here how she is doing. You can continue to pray for her as she is in the process of more adjustments. In August, she was taken to the hospital with shortness of breath after a month of dizziness, low appetite, low energy, and just generally not feeling well, but with little answers from her physicians. After some more tests, her physicians thought it would be best to put in a pace maker. The pace maker actually helped to improve some of how she was feeling. She spent several weeks in the hospital and skilled nursing care before she then moved into assisted living. In fact, she just made that transition recently and seems to be doing ok. She has been a bit anxious at times, and we are not sure if this just the aging process or the fact of being in a new place and trying to get oriented. We will be visiting her this weekend as well as Dave's father to help him around the house in preparing for the remainder of fall and winter.

In ending, I had the opportunity to do a walking half marathon with several friends in September, and absolutely loved it. Since completing it, I have set my sights on some smaller walks for the coming months. I do not think that I will have the time to prepare for the marathon in November this year, so I have set my sights on running both the half and whole marathon next year with these same friends. I have also found a trail race back home near my parents that will happen next June...it is a 34 mile trail race (with the only point of completing it), and I thought it would be fitting to tackle that in a year that I was turning 34! There is a time restriction as most long races have, so I have begun to plot my course for training between now and then. (So, Wendi, you can count me back in the game for a monthly exercise challenge!)